THE ARMAND E. SINGER NEPAL 1772-1961 AND BEYOND by Armand E. Singer, 1997

Softbound, 335 pages, nine in color

The same format used by Prof. Singer in his excellent work on Tibet is now employed to treat the philately of its Himalayan neighbor, Nepal: photocopies of his exhibit/collection, highly annotated, with Table of Contents and Index, creating a highly visual "mini-handbook," in which one not only reads about the material, but actually sees far more of it than in traditional treatments.

As prelude, Singer shows Royal Seals, Crests, and Mail, and Official Mail (21 pp.), and the British-Indian Post Office of Kathmandu (25 pp.), featuring a 1772 letter with the earliest royal seal; the striking Zodiac royal seal; Anglo-Nepalese War covers of 1814-6; an 1886 cover with the huge pictorial Commander-in-Chief's seal; four early inward covers to Kings or Prime Ministers from the China Expeditionary Force, Chengtu and Tatsienlu, China, and Lhasa; an 1816 Residency cover, the earliest recorded; an 1856 cover from Nepal bearing the India 1854 four anna red & blue, one of a handful known; an 1888 inward combination cover from Peking via the French system; and much more.

Nepal's Native Issues of 1881-5 are highlighted by a sheet of the one anna Setting 1 with full ornamental border; the two anna tete-beche pair mint, "the most famous of all Nepal rarities," the best of the three known; a two anna used strip of three with middle cliche inverted; and a cover bearing all three First Issues, one of two known. These are all shown in color.
1886-1930 classic issues occupy a full 69 pages, including no fewer than 43 full sheets replete with inverted, substituted, and missing cliches, and 17 uncommon covers, notably three ½ anna single frankings.

An interlude on the Nepalese Courts in Tibet at Kuti, Kerong, and Khasa is followed by more than one hundred pages on the Sri Pashupati Issues of 1907-55, featuring dozens of die proofs; a 1908 cover bearing 1907 4 pice and 16 pice plus classic 2 anna, the only recorded mixed franking of Pashupatis with the 2 anna; a 1921 "O'Sullivan" cover bearing the ½ anna orange, one of very few extant with this famous stamp; and 66 sheets illustrating the many printings.

The story is completed by chapters on The Era of Errors, 1958-1961; The New Error Era, 1966-1987; The Modern Era, 1946-1990, Miscellany; Postal Stationery (28 pp.) featuring the unique orange Kukris card with stamp inverted (van der Wateren WA21a, "the gem of the orange card series"), six cards rated "RRR" (2-5 known), and six more "RR" (6-10 known); also Mountaineering (a surprising 23 pp.); and Revenues.
A "must have" volume not only for the specialist, but for anyone curious about the philately of this exotic land.